Throw Canada out of Commonwealth for climate record

Rising emissions and support for tar oil sands leads prominent figures to call for suspension

Canada should be suspended from the Commonwealth for its appalling record on tackling climate change, claims a coalition of developing countries and UN scientists.

Canada's emissions rose by 26 per cent between 1990 and 2007, and it continues to support the production of oil from tar sands deposits. The energy needed to extract and process this kind of oil results in greenhouse gas emissions per barrel three times those of conventional oil.

Major figures, including the secretary general of the Commonwealth Nations and former UK international development secretary Clare Short, say Canada is ignoring the impact greenhouse gas emissions are having on the poorest countries in the world.

'It is important that the Commonwealth works to reduce global warming, which will devastate many of its members,' said Clare Short.

'Countries that fail to help should be suspended from membership, as are those that breach human rights,' she said.

Kamalesh Sharma, secretary general of the Commonwealth of Nations, said this week: 'I would like to think that our definition of serious violations could embrace much more than it does now.'

Scientist and lead author of the IPCC report Saleemul Huq said Canada should be suspended immediately.

'My country, Bangladesh, is already suffering the effects of climate change. Canada’s complete failure to cut its emissions is making the global situation worse,' he said.

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